Unlike the number of charter boat trips which fluctuated 

 greatly, the number of party boat trips steadily increased until 

 the second tyeek of ^ly after which they slowly declined > This may 

 be explained in part by the fact that party boat fishing is available 

 to the low-income fisherman, and that the vessels sail daily, where- 

 as charter boats may stay at the dock for several days without 

 booking a party. 



The party boat industry, like the charter boat industry, was 

 hampered by unseasonably high winds and inclement weather during 

 the months of September and October — usually good fishing periods. 

 The late fall run of mackerel afforded party boat operators and 

 their patrons excellent fishing through the winter months. Many 

 of the operators ran regularly throughout the iwinter— the period 

 during which there is usually little activity. 



Upon the conclusion of the regular 1948 party boat fishing 

 season, most of the operators expressed belief that the past season 

 had been an average one for most species, and a better than average 

 season for soup and sea bass. 



o. THE ABUNDANCE OF PREDOMINANT SPECIES IN 



THE 1948 PARTY BOAT CATCH 



An analysis of the catch-per-vinit of effort for certain species, 

 to determine their abundance during the 1948 party boat fishing 

 season, from pilot-house log records and interviews, is presented 

 in Table 2. The table covers those species occurring most fre- 

 ouently in the catch, and their catch in numbers -per-trip, and per 

 fisherman. Only those trips were considered where 75 percent or 

 more of the total catch was comprised of one species. Thus, as with 

 the charter boats, the trips used in calculating the abundance were 

 only those in which the species were sought and caught. 



The data in table 2 are presented primarily to serve as a basis 

 for comparison in subsequent years, but it is possible to make 

 limited comparisons with earlier work. The 1948 catch of 19.8 scup 

 per fisheman and 12.9 sea bass per fisherman is considerably greater 

 than the 1938 catch of 2.7 scup and 3.9 sea bass per party boat 

 angler reported by Moore et al. (1938). Assuming that the fishing 

 methods used in 1938 were identical with those used in 1948, soup 

 were 7,3 times as abundant in 1948 as they wore in 1938, and sea 

 bass were 3.3 times as abundant. 



14 



